Hornets center Bismack Biyombo provided much-needed leadership and guidance to his younger teammates this season, Sam Perley of NBA.com writes.
Charlotte has a young core of LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, and P.J. Washington among others. Biyombo, who held per-game averages of 5.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 20.4 minutes in his 10th NBA season, relished the role of veteran leader for the team.
“The most special part was that this was a team where nobody had an ego,” Biyombo said. “We trusted each other, supported each other. We didn’t want to hear the outside noise. When you’re around a team that doesn’t have egos, it’s easy to lead and be a voice of the team.
“People are able to listen and you can listen to other people give their opinion and be willing to understand where the other person is coming from. I think overall, we trusted and relied on each other. I think that was the most special part about this season.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division tonight:
- Some Heat players could still have a short offseason despite being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel explores. While it won’t be nearly as brief as last offseason, it’ll be shorter than usual — the league plans to return to a normal format next season, meaning training camps will start the final week of September. Should Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo participate in the Olympics, it would reduce their time off even further.
- In his “Ask Ira” mailbag, Winderman examines whether replacing Goran Dragic with Kyle Lowry would be enough of an upgrade for the team. Miami holds a $19.44MM team option on Dragic for next season, while Lowry is set to become an unrestricted free agent.
- Magic veteran Terrence Ross found new ways to score this season, elevating his game to another level, Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel writes. Ross averaged a career-high 15.6 points per game, shooting 41% from the field and 34% from three-point range in 46 contests.
Is Miami going to make Oladipo sweat it out and wait until he begs to sign an incentive-laden 1-year deal in the 5-10 million dollar range?
At that point you’ll see him take a MLE somewhere else.
It’s going to be interesting, especially since he wants to be in Miami and has a home here.
We do know one thing: Pat Riley will not fold to a player’s demands.
One of the worst contracts given out during that cap increase. Bis, Mozgov. Parsons, Noah, ET, Deng, and Mahinmi all that money was wasted.
As for Lowry versus Dragic, I don’t believe that is enough of an upgrade to get us where we want to get back to. The Heat have a size problem. Fixing their small positions isn’t going to get them over the top. They need some size that teams can’t take advantage of like they have ever since last year’s Finals.